Book Review: Choices of One

I like that I started 2015 off with a Star Wars novel. I find that somehow fitting, seeing as this year is going to be a huge Star Wars year, what with the amping up of The Force Awakens.

Mei-Mei suggested Choices of One (by Timothy Zahn) to me almost 1 years ago in a random post, and Null definitely mentioned it as well…so thanks to you both – it somehow ended up on my reading list! What makes it so spectacular that it’s my first book of 2015 is that I have a reading list that ranges anywhere from 30-40 books on it at a time and I use random.org to pick the book I read next. I had 34 books on my list, therefore giving me a 3% chance of actually getting this novel. Anyway, I found that interesting because I’m looking for reasons that 2015 is going to be awesome and Star Wars filled.

I liked this novel SO much better than my last Legends book (still trying not to write EU), Dawn of the Jedi. Which is funny, because if I think about what I’m looking for in a Star Wars novel it’s generally something that happens either way before the movies or way after the movies and therefore has no connection to the main characters. Instead, Choices of One takes place between ANH and ESB and involves the three main heroes as well.

The first third of the book was boring for me. I struggled with getting into it and found the character interactions between Han, Leia, and Luke to be halting and didn’t flow naturally. On the flip side, I enjoyed the scenes with the commanders on the Star Destroyer and the scenes with Mara Jade…they kept me reading when I wanted to give up. I forgot how much I missed reading about Mara. Though loyal to the Empire and the Emperor at this point, there are still glimpses of the woman we will see her become through her relationship with Luke.

As the novel went on, I thought our three heroes began to find their groove and Zahn did a better job of reflecting what we saw from their characters in the movie onto his paper. Particularly, I thought he did an amazing job with Luke. At this point, Luke is not as serious or knowledgeable of the Force as he is by the end of the OT. He brought to life a struggle Luke had with everyone thinking he is a competent Jedi just because he has a lightsaber and blew up the Death Star, contrasted with how he feels that he knows absolutely nothing except the small training from Ben Kenobi. I loved reading it and found it weirdly relatable as it can happen to many of us, especially if we start a new job.

When the novel started to all come together toward the end and we find out that Mara, the Hand of Judgment (a group of stormtrooper deserters), and the Rebels are all going to be at the same planet at the same time, I got a little nervous. I was afraid of Luke and Mara having an interaction pre-Heir to the Empire and I wasn’t sure how I’d handle that. Thankfully, Zahn threw them in a situation together where they actually do not have a conversation and only briefly glimpse each other. It’s hard to say too much without spoiling the novel for anyone that wants to read it, but suffice it to say that my fears were unwarranted.

Pros:

Overall, Zahn did a good job with keeping the three heroes true to form with personality quirks and attitudes.

I liked that there were a lot of larger issues and questions that were brought to life and made you think. For instance, Han’s moral struggles at the end of the novel when he is incognito as an Imperial Officer. He faced a decisions where he did not have to help the Imperials in their emergency situation and they would all die, which is a benefit to the Rebel cause, or he could help them because in a sense they were a ship full of innocent people facing a common enemy.

Null would be happy about this: I actually really, really enjoyed all chapters that had to do with the Hand of Judgment, a band of deserter stormtroopers who are this murky shade of grey. Are they good or bad? I loved reading personalities! In stormtroopers! Mind blown. But seriously, that was something I didn’t expect to like so much and I’m actually considering adding Allegianceto my book list because of how much I enjoyed them.

It was great revisiting Thrawn and Mara Jade again (though separately). I was afraid of overkill on Thrawn, but he was written in there just enough that there was no overload.

My favorite chapters/sections to read was actually Commander Pellaeon’s storyline on the Star Destroyer Chimaera. I loved how he wanted to take everything one step further on his job and showed that there was competency within the Empire.

I liked the setup it played between ANH and ESB. For instance, the relationship and conversations Han has with General Rieekan explains more of ESB. Little moments like that were a nice touch.

Cons:

The first third of the book dragged. I couldn’t get into it and was frustrated whenever I had to read chapters with the three heroes. I felt like it took a while for Zahn to get into the groove of depicting them well, but it could also have been my resistance to actually reading them.

It was easily guessable. Don’t go into this novel actually hoping for a surprise at the end. This is no Game of Thrones and I had figured everything out by the halfway point. Still, there’s something to be said that I kept reading even if I pretty much knew what was going to happen.

Is it just me or was Mara a little less harsh in this book? This could very well just be me since I haven’t read the original Thrawn Trilogy in 10+ years, but I have a distinct memory of her being a little less reasonable.

The Luke/Mara scene where they almost-meet-but-not-quite seems a liiiiiitle far-fetched. I was obviously happy they didn’t meet but it still seemed slightly unbelievable. I also thought it out of character for Mara to just brush aside the name “Skywalker” that she references Vader was obsessively hunting. I feel like Mara would have done a more thorough investigation on who he is if the name linked to someone Vader was searching for.

Overall, I was much happier with this novel than with Dawn of the Jedi. It showed that I can read Legends books with the main characters and not give up entirely. I would rate this 3.5/5 stars. I liked it more than average, but I couldn’t love it enough to give it 4 stars.

Post navigation

9 thoughts on “Book Review: Choices of One”

I also liked Luke’s characterization in this book.
At this point, I kind of hate reading things about main characters that take place between the movies, because they’ve already shoved so much story in there, there’s really nowhere to go with the plot. Like with the Luke/Mara meeting, obviously they can’t meet. But they have to meet for this book to be interesting, otherwise what’s the tension? I think this is really hard to pull off successfully.
Mara is a little mellower, but she hasn’t yet lost her master and had her world totally destroyed. I also found her to be a touch overpowered, compared to the later books…

Ah good point on her losing everything later on and that’s why she wasn’t so cray cray. That actually hadn’t even crossed my mind. Like I said, overall I liked it and Zahn does a good job writing within the Star Wars world.

So, interestingly, I was reading my latest Insider last night and a lot of it focused on Luke. There’s a new novel coming out by Kevin Hearne (he did the Druid series) called Heir to the Jedi that focuses on Luke right after ANH. They talked all about his feelings and lack of confidence in the interview. I’d be interested to see Hearne’s take on it. Also I think the title is a total rip off of Heir to the Empire, but that was probably on purpose.

I kept meaning to say…. Another thing they’re saying about the book is that it’s the first novel written in the first person. Do you want me to scan you the excerpt in star wars insider so you can see if you’re interested?